What I f ?
by KeyStar11
Summary: A series of alternate-endings that could have happened on Tales of Vesperia. Warnings: Character death and several dark themes.


**A/N: I know I haven't written in a while, and I know that I'm far from the best writer there is out there in this fanbase, but me and my friend (Dei) were talking about Tales of Vesperia during my third/fourth playthrough, and I have reached the part with Phaeroh. After a long, _long_ discussion accompanied with several rants, I now sit here typing this with several ideas both from myself and my friend. This fanfiction is called "What If?" for a reason; it will all be several different alternate endings of various places in Tales of Vesperia. Some may be one-shots, and others multi-chapter. They will be listed as shown:**

**What I f ?**

{Title of 'Series'}: Part of Series

Now, that's all for now! Oh, yes, and disclaimer (I will only put this in this chapter, since it's...honestly not that really needed): Tales of Vesperia does not belong to me. The writings in here do, though, as well as the ideas- well, they belong to my friend and I. I would appreciate it if you do not copy these.

Also, there will many spoilers, many character deaths, as well as yaoi and yuri (Fluri, and possibly Ristelle could be involved; ). There will be 'series' based on things like Raven's past as Damuron, etc. Lots of this may also be headcanons as well. _Now_ we're done. Time to start.

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**What I f ?**

Child of the Full Moon: One

Yuri Lowell leaned against the wall, arms and feet crossed, stormy gray eyes cast down, in their short residency in Myorzo. His left hand gripped the white fabric that was connected to the sheathe of the black katana, the Second Star, tightly, occasionally shifting his grip. His eyes flickered up briefly to look around the moonlight bathed room. The kid was laying on the floor, using his bag for a pillow, the weapon usually residing in it beside him. Rita was nearby, laying near the wall and gripping the aer-conducting sash with a unconsciously pleasant smile on her face. The old man was on the bed, sleeping in a position that could only be described as uncomfortable and awkward. Judith was laying on the white, silk-like bed, and Repede was curled up near her; the latter had taken quite a liking to the Kritiyan woman. The familiar pinkette princess, however, was not with them. Or, she was not in the room, at least. Yuri and the old man were the last ones awake, and, with them being the only ones, Estelle had told them she was going out for a walk. Raven had volunteered to go with her, but Yuri quickly declined; first of all, as weird as these Krityians were, he found no reason to not trust them. Second...Estelle needed time alone. No doubt she was thinking both about the mural, and Phaeroh.

_Hearing the world's prayers, life faded from the Child of the Full Moon._

_The insipid poison of this world must be purged._

He closed his eyes. His own mind was racing, and he shifted a little bit, sinking to the floor. He was thinking about when they were at Phaeroh's crag. When he himself was speaking to the giant, fire-red Entelexeia. If a part is corrupted, it must be cut off to save the whole. Then he remembered his reply. What _did_ make Phaeroh so, quote, "high and mighty" that he could choose who lives and who dies? But... he himself had said those same words - to cut off a part in order to save a whole - to Judith. He hadn't been afraid to kill her. He hadn't been afraid, he...he could have killed her. Well, granted, he didn't, and he was very _glad_ he didn't. Judith _hadn't_ been corrupted; she was trying to help the entire world. In what way was she hurting it? The barrier blastia at Ehmead Hill? No one lived there. The ceres blastia on the _Fierta_ - it was easily fixed, and besides, that was a ship. Other ways to move a _ship_ were easy. Caer Bocram? She saved that monster - which, he got the feeling, didn't seem as...monster like as others. Other places, too, it was little things - the infamous 'dragon rider' spread more rumors than she did chaos.

But Estelle...

_Power brings along corruption. But you...you are different. Never lose that compassion you so readily show to others._

_Compassion alone won't save the world._

Estelle was different. Yes, she healed people; maybe she healed a minor cut, or even the tree of Halure - a barrier that would have naturally gone away even so - but the former could be done. Broken bones could be healed, yes, and gashes and whatever may happen. But was it really worth it? Was it really worth all the aer it needed? Anyone skilled in healing artes could do that. To be honest, even Flynn or...even Raven, with Love Shot, could heal something like that. But they used _blastia_. Estelle was using much, much more aer to do these same things, which reminded him again of Halure. Holy...how much aer did something like healing the _tree blastia_ take? He could only imagine that had helped more than a handful to unbalancing the world's amount of aer.

Then, that mural. The Child of the Full Moon - Estelle - could bring about the cataclysm, the horror of the Adephagos. What were they to do then? There was shown no way to escape it, as far as he'd seen, without destroying Estelle's life. And...he couldn't do that, could he? First of all, the group would be furious, and not only him - everyone. The prince, the Knights, the Council, _Flynn_, no, no, no...

He had spoken with resolve when Phaeroh had agreed to grant them more time. But now, now he realized the full weight of things. It would be..it would be easier, wouldn't it? Not that Brave Vesperia wouldn't take the hard way if push come to shove, but, one person? One person, for the safety of the world? Yes, it was a princess. Yes, she was in line to be emperor. Yes, she was his _friend_, she was sweet and kind and _innocent_ and she hadn't known _anything_ about the world or about what happened or anything other than what she'd read in those _damned _books and, and -

Yuri let out a conflicted, sharp sigh of anger and frustration, before swallowing, trying to regain his composure. Why was this so hard? It was one person, to save millions, why couldn't he figure it out? Why couldn't he? She was too close? He'd even told Flynn - if he were to become corrupted, like that damned magistrate and Cumore, then he would - he would _have_ to do something about it.

Even if that meant taking Flynn's life.

So why couldn't he do it to Estelle? Yuri was closer to Flynn, but he knew if he had to, he'd do it, but now, he had to, but not with Flynn, with the princess, the person he'd spent - what, about a month? Two? - with, and now, now he _couldn't_? His eyes opened, as if by shocked, and his hands opened as well from the frustrated fists they had been before. He gazed down at them. They had so much blood on them, so much blood he didn't _want_ but most of it he didn't _regret_, the magistrate's blood, Cumore's, the _Don_'s...the latter he didn't want. The latter he took no pride in. He had so much blood that he'd tried to force at the back of his mind but he _didn't_ feel guilty and he _didn't_ wish he could go back and give them another chance, because he _knew_ they had to die and if they hadn't there would be _more_ lives to take away. If he didn't kill Estelle, then the world could be in serious danger and everyone, _everyone he knew_, everyone _anybody_ knew could die, could not live to see another day if the Adephagos was again aroused and this time could not be quelled. They could all be destroyed. And what if the decision between the whole world and one person came down to him? Down to this very moment he sat, leaned against the wall with his hands running through his long, dark strands of silky hair in frustration, a troubled expression on his face as his conflicted motions clashed in a fierce war between his mind and heart? Between logic and friendship?

He felt like tearing his hair out. He groaned in frustration, looking down at his sword. He stopped, before letting out a dry laugh. These past few minutes - or hours, he wouldn't of known how long he had been sitting here, wide awake in the middle of the night, trapped between killing a princess and killing a world. His resolve, the resolve he'd, for a long time, been proud of, was crumbling into a weak, messy pile of nothing. Now he didn't know what to do. And he couldn't ask anyone. Not Karol, the kid would murder him, not Rita - she would, too, not Raven, definitely not. He hadn't missed that flash of guilty frustration when the old man was told he couldn't go walk with Estelle, and now Yuri's suspicions had rose from the fishy man. Repede wouldn't answer, not even through their usual ways. He wouldn't disagree or agree. He couldn't ask Judith, because she...he was nervous to, and he doubted she would know either.

And he couldn't ask Estelle herself. Because if he asked Estelle...

He was terrified she would tell him to kill her.

He took long, deep breaths that shuddered ever so slightly, heavy from his frustration and anger and annoyance and _fear _all burning and boiling like a pit of his own personal _hell_ inside his head.

But, he finally reached a conclusion.

He finally chose what he'd do.

And he prayed, as he began to get to his feet, the fabric attached to the sheathe fluttering somewhat as he picked it up, to whatever god or whatever there was watching him, that his decision would be right. Because if it wasn't...it would cost him his life. He forced himself to straighten up, gray eyes that so commonly lacked emotion holding it back like a dam, flickered this way and that, scanning over his sleeping comrades. Quietly, he slipped away, the only noise of his boots being so quiet it would even go unheard by Repede's half-pricked, dark blue ears. He just as silently exited the residence, and he could see Estelle's bright pink hair, turned even lighter by the silver gleam of the moonlight that fell in from the Entelexeia holding Myorzo's transparent body. He walked towards her, breath now light and fleeting. It almost seemed as if his lungs couldn't pull enough air in but he ignored it, he had to do this, _now_.

Slowly he walked to her, but he made his presence known. "...Estelle," he said, and she lightly jumped upon hearing her voice called by the familiar guildsman. She turned, her pink strands shifting as she looked back to face him. "Yuri? What are you doing up this late at night?" she asked. He almost flinched. Her voice, though troubled, was just as innocent and soft as it had ever been and he felt like he was facing a child, not a princess or a woman or an adult. He looked down. "...Estelle, I've come to settle something," he said. "Would you...would you walk with me?"

She easily noticed the just-as-troubled tone in the man's voice, as well as the seriousness. The princess nodded; she had no idea what he was going to say, and since Yuri carried around his sword just about everywhere, she wasn't to think he was going to do anything. They walked towards the entrance, where there was no longer anyone to be called a guard. They were truly alone. She looked up at Yuri, her eyes curious and unknowing, and her tone just the same as she spoke again. "Yuri? What do you have to...'settle'?" she asked, and Yuri looked down. His eyes briefly closed and she noticed something she'd thought she never see pricking at the edges of his eyes. "...Yuri?"

"I'm...I'm sorry, Estelle," he said, his voice wavering a little. She blinked. "I...I can't...I can't allow you to live. If I have to choose between the world's life and yours...I'm so, so sorry, but I choose the world's. It...it's for the better."

She froze, as Yuri, unusually slowly, grasped the sheathe itself instead of the white fabric, pulled out the katana with his left hand, before pointing it at her. She did not move, but her eyes searched Yuri's in question. But she remembered herself, that night in Mantaic when she'd overheard Yuri's and Flynn's conversation.

_If I ever find you pointing your blade at me, I am sure I will have done something to deserve it._

She didn't realize, then, that her mere existence was enough to deserve it. But now..now she realized the truth in the way Yuri's thoughts were now swayed. She had no choice but to accept her death, no choice but to accept the blood that would now be on Yuri's hands.

"I'll...I'm sorry, Estelle. I'll...I'll make it as quick as possible."

She closed her innocent eyes, and Yuri felt the tears welling wet on the edges of his eyes, burning them, threaten to spill over. He swallowed, feeling his throat tighten. He tightened his hand to steady it, and lowered his sword to point right at her heart. He'd never forget, though, that right before he moved, he heard her.

"...I understand."

He nearly froze, but didn't, only continued the swift, but hesitant movement, hearing the sound of flesh and fabric tearing, and Estelle's pained, choked, soft cry, and he quickly removed the blade, closing his eyes as he heard the princess fall to the ground, heard this threat to the world fall lifelessly to the stone floor of this Krityian city. The tears spilled as he sheathed the blade, gazed briefly at the now impaled body of the Child of the Full Moon. "I...forgive me, Estellise," he said quietly, beginning to walk silently back towards their home. He...he couldn't tell them tonight. But he knew they'd find out in the morning. It...he would wait until then.

As he quietly, once more, opened the door to the single-roomed home, he glanced around, but everyone was there. Everyone was asleep. He went back to his spot, sank to the floor again and leaned against the wall, and fixed his sleeve briefly to wipe the regretful tears out of his eyes. He had no idea _why_ he was this...angry. Depressed, now, mostly. Breathing becoming slightly quicker, he lay down, now facing the wall instead. He forced his breathing relaxingly even, closing his eyes. He would deal with this in the morning.

For now, though, he would let the warm clutches of sleep grasp his mind.


End file.
